


Feeding Darkness

by sheafrotherdon



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-01-17
Updated: 2005-01-17
Packaged: 2017-10-11 23:23:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/118296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sheafrotherdon/pseuds/sheafrotherdon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bellatrix, with little else to do in Azkaban, taunts her cousin with memories of his brother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Feeding Darkness

In a lucid moment she crawled toward him, a broken caricature of power held together by madness.

"So sad," she whispered, "to waste affection on those who never loved you."

He ignored her, retreating into the part of his soul that harbored his sustaining secret -- _I'm innocent, innocent, innocent . . ._

But she touched him, the pad of her fingertip thick with grime, cold against his brow, his cheek, his chin.

"Your baby brother. My plaything. Your weakness. My prey." She leaned close. He could all but taste the lingering remnants of murder on her breath.

 _I'm innocent, innocent, innocent . . ._

"Kiss me like he did?"

There was bile in his throat. "Come closer, and I will end you." His voice was shattered, barely his own.

She laughed viciously. "With what power?" She hovered still, the stench of rotting beauty coiled about her like a snake.

"My bare hands, cousin. My teeth."

She bit her lip as if in pleasure, breathed out an obscene, fluttering sigh. "Promise?"

 _Innocent, innocent, innocent_.

She eyed him thoughtfully, as if to consider which weapon to use. "He wept, you know, before the end. Fascinating tears." Guilt. Her favorite. She reached out, wrapped a strand of his hair around her finger. "He didn't beg or plead. Just watched. Waited." She tugged hard, laughing slightly. "He thought you would come."

 _Innocent, innocent, innocent_.

 _But not of this_.

"You loved him, didn't you cousin? Nursed the pathetic embers of sibling devotion until the very end."

He clasped his hands into fists.

"So sad. So _weak_." She sat back on her heels. "Regulus knew better uses for love." She let a hand trail over one breast. "Knew _me_."

"You lie." He spat the words.

Her lips quirked into a parody of a smile. "Do I?"

He met her eyes, defiant. "Always." He knew his anger was naked on his face.

Her smile became broader. "Oh . . . such _rage_." She swayed slightly on her knees, intoxicated by the sight. "Such _hatred_."

He felt the first chill wash of air against his cheek and closed his eyes. They were coming. He let his hands tremble, let his anguish feed her delight until . . .

Her laughter faded into a gasp. "No. _No_."

He felt ice form beneath his fingernails, felt the brush of dank fabric past his face. Heard her scream.

He tried hard to quell his own pleasure at the sound, lest they turn to him next.

 _Innocent, innocent, innocent_.

He died a little more.


End file.
